The service was formed along with the county itself in 1974. After 1986 when the West Yorkshire County Council was abolished, the service was financed by the central government and the fire councils in 5 boroughs which are Leeds City Council, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Wakefield City Council, Calderdale Council and Kirklees Coucil.
In other words, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. The Fire and Rescue Authority annually appoints 22 people who administer the service. It covers a total areas of 2,100 kilometers square and a 2 million population which includes the moorland, villages, urban areas, cities as well as the Leeds Breadford International Airport.
There are 48 fire stations in operations, of which 32 are crewed 24 hours daily, 2 stations are crewed only at daytime, and the remaining are crewed by retained/opn-call firefighters who live nearby the stations so they can come over within 5 minutes after a call is received.
In Leeds, the wholetime stations are in Leeds, Cockridge, Garforth, Gipton, Hunslet, Moortown, Morley, Stanks, Wetherby, Stanningley, Rawdon, and Rothwell. In Bradford, the stations are in Bradford, Fairweather Green, Idle, Keighley, Odsal, Shipley, and Illingworth. In Calderdale, the stations are in Elland, Halifax and Brighouse. In Kirkless, they are in Huddersfield, Cleckheaton, Batley, and Dewsbury. And in Wakefield, the stations are in Wakefield, Castleford, Ossett, Pontefract and South Elmsall.
The day crewed stations are installed in Knottingley and Todmorden while the retained stations are found in Haworth, Ilkley, Otley, Silsden, Holmfith, Marsden, Meltham, Mytholmroyd, Skelmanthorpe, Slaithwaite, Featherstone, Hemsworth, Mirfieldm and in Normanton.
The main station is In Birkenshaw, Bradford and is headed by Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling.
